Nigeria’s Manufacturing Index Expands in May

Obinna Chima

The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stood at 52.5 index points in May 2017, indicating expansion in the manufacturing sector for the second consecutive month.

According to the PMI report for May released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Thursday, 10 of the 16 sub-sectors reported growth in the review month in the following order: primary metal; petroleum & coal products; plastics & rubber products; paper products; electrical equipment; appliances & components; textile, apparel, leather & footwear; cement; food, beverage & tobacco products and chemical & pharmaceutical products.

The remaining six sub-sectors declined in the order: transportation equipment; nonmetallic mineral products; fabricated metal products; printing & related support activities; furniture & related products and computer & electronic products.

Furthermore, the report showed that the production level index for manufacturing sector expanded for the third consecutive month in May 2017. The index at 58.7 points indicated an increase in production at a faster rate, when compared to the 58.5 points in the previous month.

Fifteen manufacturing sub-sectors recorded increase in production level during the review month in the following order: primary metal; electrical equipment; petroleum & coal products; cement; chemical & pharmaceutical products; plastics & rubber products; computer & electronic products; food, beverage & tobacco products; textile, apparel, leather & footwear; appliances & components; paper products; nonmetallic mineral products; furniture & related products; printing & related support activities and fabricated metal products, while the transportation equipment sub-sector recorded decline in production.

Also, the new orders index for May stood at 50.5 points, indicating a faster growth in new orders for the second consecutive month.
Eight sub-sectors reported growth in new orders in the following order: appliances & components; plastics & rubber products; textile, apparel, leather & footwear; paper products; chemical & pharmaceutical products; food, beverage & tobacco products; petroleum & coal products and primary metal.

The cement and electrical equipment sub-sectors remained unchanged, while the printing & related support activities; nonmetallic mineral products; computer & electronic products; transportation equipment; fabricated metal products and furniture & related products sub-sectors recorded declines.

According to the report, at 49.9 index points, the supplier delivery time index for the manufacturing sector declined for the second consecutive month, though at a slower rate, when compared to the previous month.

But eight sub-sectors recorded delayed suppliers’ delivery time in the following order: appliances & components; transportation equipment; fabricated metal products; nonmetallic mineral products; cement; furniture & related products; chemical & pharmaceutical products and food, beverage & tobacco products.

The remaining eight sub-sectors recorded improvement in delivery time in May 2017 in the following order: primary metal; petroleum & coal products; paper products; printing & related support activities; computer & electronic products; textile, apparel, leather & footwear; electrical equipment and plastics & rubber products.